Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford. A. Hugh Fisher

      EXTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.

      The entrance doorway to the Chapter-house from the east walk still remains, but is walled up. It consists of a pointed arch under a lofty, richly ornamented pedimental moulding, having clustered shafts on the sides, with foliated capitals. The archway is divided by a slender pillar into two smaller openings. The once elegant chapter-room to which this doorway communicated, whether or not they fell, as Britton asserts, "beneath the fanatic frenzy of the Cromwellian soldiers," was certainly neglected; and then, as long as any material could be got from it, treated as a stone quarry by Bishop Bisse and his successors. This chapter-house appears to have been a beautiful piece of design of the rich Decorated period. It was decagonal in plan, with a projecting buttress[pg 032] at each angle. Each side, except the one occupied by the entrance, was sub-divided into five panels or seats. Remains of three sides only are left, and these only as far as the window-sills.

      Against the south wall of the cloisters, towards its east end, are some remains of two Norman chapels, one above the other. The lower was dedicated to St. Katherine and the upper to St. Mary Magdalene.

      "The form, excepting a portico and choir (i.e. chancel) was an exact square; four pillars in the middle, with arches every way, supported the roof; the portico was composed of a succession of arches retiring inwards, and had a grandeur in imitation of Roman works; two pillars on each side consisted of single stones. There was a descent of a few steps to the lower chapel, which had several pillars against the walls made of single stones, and an octagonal cupola on the four middle pillars. The walls were much painted, and the arched roof was turned with great skill, and resembled the architecture which prevailed during the declension of the Roman Empire (see Stukeley, Havergal, etc.).

      Mentioning the existence of the doorway and two small windows in the remaining north wall, the author of The Picturesque Antiquities of Hereford proceeds to say: "These are extremely interesting, as they pertained to an edifice which once stood on the south side of this wall, and is believed to have been the original church of St. Mary, the patron saint of the cathedral before the translation of the body of St. Ethelbert. It was the parish church of St. Mary, to which the residences in the cathedral close belonged. Transcripts of registers of marriages there solemnised so late as the year 1730 are existent in the Dean's archives."

      A second cloister, known as the Vicars' Cloister, connects the Vicars' College with the south-east transept. The arrangement here may be compared with that of Chichester, as showing the most probable plan of the latter before the destruction of the south walk and its connection with the cloister of the Vicars Choral.

      In the area of the Bishop's Cloister was formerly a preaching cross, which fell into a decayed state during the latter part of the last century. Beneath it was a dome of masonry which closed the aperture to a well of considerable depth, which had[pg 033] been formed with great exactness. This well still exists beneath a plain square stone. Another well was (according to Stukeley) situated between the College and the Castle Green, with a handsome stone arch over it.